It’s closing time for ACME in Morris Plains

The Morris Plains ACME announces it's closing. Photo by Jeff Sovelove, May 17, 2021.
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It’s closing time for the ACME in Morris Plains.

ACME’s pharmacy will close on Wednesday; its customers are being referred to the Walgreen’s on South Street in Morristown.

Signs posted in the Speedwell Avenue supermarket thanked shoppers for their patronage and asked them to visit the chain’s Randolph location. The store will shut down by June 26, 2021, spokesperson Dana Ward said on Monday.

The Morris Plains ACME announces its pharmacy is closing on May 19, 2021. Photo: Jeff Sovelove

In March, Morristown Green reported that ACME’s days were numbered, as its landlord circulated a leasing brochure calling for a large pharmacy, a retail space and a fast-food restaurant on the four-acre property at 329 Speedwell.

“With this store, the lease was coming to an expiration and although we pursued, we were unable to reach an agreement with the landlord to renew and therefore we will deploy the team and resources to other locations to serve our customers,” Ward said Monday in a statement.

“Closing a store is always a tough decision. And let me assure you they are not made without a great deal of consideration, but we are focused on growing our business and reinvesting those resources into other locations.  We look forward to continuing to provide our customers with clean, fresh, full, and friendly shopping experiences,” Ward said.

Employees at the Morris Plains store will be offered transfers to nearby stores, the spokesperson said.

The closest locations are Randolph, Denville, Boonton and New Providence.

Online records show the Morris Plains tract was acquired for $2.6 million in 2014 by Morris Plains Speedwell LLC, which has a mailing address in Baltimore, Md.

Ward said in March that the store’s run in Morris Plains dates to Oct. 24, 1977, although Morristown Green readers shared earlier memories of an ACME in the borough.

Morris Plains was one of 72 New Jersey locations for ACME, which is a subsidiary of Albertsons Companies Inc.

The Acme Market in Morris Plains soon will be history. Image: Leasing brochure

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9 COMMENTS

  1. I agree with Mud, I thought this store offered the best value fresh deli lunch choices, hot and cold, in the area. I hope the staff can all find replacement jobs. I’m going to be sad to see this place go. This is almost as bad as loosing Fairway Market in Woodland Park. I suspect this, another supermarket death, may have as much to do with Covid-19 as it did with the expiration of Acme’s lease term, and failed negotiations of a lease extension. Hopefully, there will be an even better replacement, but I doubt their fried or broiled chicken will be as good.

  2. I would go in there probably twice a week to pick up a few things we needed. The staff was always very friendly to me, never had one issue. Maybe you were the problem
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  3. I’ll miss that store because it was so convenient. Over the last five or so years, however, Acme management acted as if it was just waiting for the lease to expire so it could close the place. It put no resources into the place and let the store deteriorate. Did that store even have a full-time manager? It stopped stocking items it had carried for years, and prices were always high.

    I found the staff to be friendly, although the deli service was beyond bad. The bakery used to be good, but management transferred the baker and quality quickly declined. The produce section was always first rate, probably the best of any of the local supermarkets.

  4. Don’t know why that Kings in Bernardsville was not taken over like the other Kings…perhaps the Shop-Rite across the street had some impact on the decision

  5. What M. Russell described sounds like any Safeway. Come to think of it, they are the same company!

  6. While the Acme was convenient, customer service was atrocious to non-existent, prices were high, lousy deli service, frustrating discount programs, questionable freshness on many bakery and meat items. Store had no creativity, lackluster management and unfriendly staff with a few exceptions.

    Will miss the convenience but not that store.

    It could have been so much more than what it was.

  7. The Foodtown in the former Morris County mall in Cedar Knolls and the King’s in Bernardsville closed too. More people, but fewer grocery stores. Go figure.

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